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Oil Exploration – Gulf of Mannar Cairn India had contracted a deepwater rig from Japan Drilling to embark on the three-well Block M2 Mannar basin. Mannar basin's two oil blocks have been granted to China and India. The 1 st, 2 nd, 3 rd stages would take three, two and three years respectively and the entire project would be completed in eight years. Sri Lanka has identified and demarcated 12 blocks namely, three in the Cauvery Basin (off North East coasts of Sri Lanka), eight in the Mannar Basin (off Western and North Western Coasts) and one in the Southern Basin (off Hambantota)